Native American bands associated with the Timucua settled on the island, which they called Napoyca, circa 1000. They would remain on Napoyca until the early 18th century. In 1562, French Huguenot explorer Jean Ribault became the first recorded European visitor to Napoyca. He named the island Isle de Mar (Sea Island). In 1565, Spanish forces led by Pedro Menendez de Aviles drove the French from northeastern Florida, slaughtering Ribault and approximately 350 other French colonists.
Spanish Franciscans established the Santa Maria mission on the island in 1573, naming it Isla de Santa Maria. The mission was abandoned in 1680 after the inhabitants refused a Spanish order to relocate. British raids forced the relocation of the Santa Catalina de Guale mission on St. Catherines Island, Georgia, to the abandoned Santa Maria mission on the island in 1685. In 1702, this mission was again abandoned when South Carolina's colonial governor, James Moore, led a joint British-Indian invasion of Florida.
East Florida Patriot Flag
Green Cross flag of Florida
Georgia's founder and colonial governor, James Oglethorpe, renamed the island "Amelia Island" in honor of Princess Amelia (1710�1786), George II of Great Britain's daughter, although the island was still a Spanish possession.[1] After establishing a small settlement on the northwestern edge of the island, Oglethorpe negotiated with Spanish colonial officials for a transfer of the island to British sovereignty. Colonial officials agreed to the transfer, but the King of Spain nullified the agreement.
The Treaty of Paris in 1763 ratified Britain's victory in the Seven Years' War, ceding Florida to Britain in exchange for Havana, Cuba and nullifying all Spanish land grants in Florida. The Proclamation of 1763 established the St. Marys River as East Florida's northeastern boundary.
In 1783, the Second Treaty of Paris ended the Revolutionary War and returned
